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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in This Is Where It Ends, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gun Violence
Community and Tragedy
Family and Sibling Relationships
Change, Uncertainty, and Growing Up
Abuse
Summary
Analysis
Feeling daring again, Tomás opens the drawer of files. He knows that the principal will speak for exactly five minutes, after which the hallways will be clogged with students dawdling on the way to class. Tomás complains about the piles of paper and Fareed mocks him, calling him a “barbarian.” While he continues to search, Tomás extracts Fareed’s file and hands it to his friend for inspection.
Even though Tomás sets himself outside the community with his frequent pranks, he still counts on the school’s reliable predictability, as his remark about the speech shows. Already, Tomás’s character is an example of the tension between community and individuality that shapes the novel.
Themes
After some more searching, Tomás finds what he’s looking for: Tyler Browne’s file. Looking at Tyler’s contemptuous snapshot makes Tomás want to bang Tyler’s head into a locker. He’s disappointed with the lack of information in the folder—just a record of Tyler’s mediocre grades—but takes note of the last line, which states that his nemesis is reenrolling in school this semester. Sylvia has already mentioned this to Tomás, and her terrified look when she brought it up is the reason why Tomás is breaking the rules to find more information.
Like his sister, Tomás clearly sees Tyler as a threat and enemy. This moment represents both his closeness to Sylvia—he’s willing to break rules to find information on someone who scares her—and his distance from her: he doesn’t even know exactly what’s wrong, because Sylvia isn’t comfortable telling him.
Themes
Autumn’s back is full of knots, which Sylvia patiently massages. Autumn didn’t sleep well last night, especially because, with Tyler absent and Mr. Browne drinking, she suffered the grief of the anniversary alone. Her father used to make her laugh, but now he hates everything that reminds him of his dead wife, including his daughter. Autumn is afraid that she’s going to lose her entire family, but she doesn’t want to admit her feelings because she knows Sylvia dislikes Tyler.
Autumn can’t rely on anyone for support except Sylvia. Even though her family situation is much less positive than that of her girlfriend, she still cares for her brother and father as much as Sylvia loves her own family.
Themes
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Suspecting what she’s feeling, Sylvia tells Autumn that she can talk about anything, but Autumn just shakes her head. Another girl comes over to talk to Sylvia about the upcoming midterm. Autumn knows that she’s named Asha, but she doesn’t want to put any effort into getting to know people when she’s going to leave town anyway.
This is another missed opportunity for communication between Sylvia and Autumn. Even though they clearly love each other, both girls are too insecure at this point to express their feelings for each other.
Themes
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Turning to Autumn, Asha tries to make conversation, asking what she did over the break even though Autumn puts on a bored and disaffected front. Finally Autumn admits that she watched an old film of her mother dancing Swan Lake. New to Opportunity and not knowing that Mrs. Brown is dead, she casually asks if the production was any good. Autumn is relieved not to be faced with pity. After telling Asha that her mother was “amazing,” Autumn leans against Sylvia and feels as if “all of Opportunity falls away.”
For Autumn, talking to someone not “from” Opportunity is a moment of liberation from her town’s insularity. Like Claire, she feels trapped and uneasy at the idea that she belongs within her town and should be loyal to it.
Themes
On the track, Claire begins to warm up in the cold air. She’s thinking about her JROTC drill team, which will soon begin practice as well. Chris asks about her break and she says she enjoyed celebrating her brother Matt’s birthday—albeit without her older sister Tracy, who is serving in the army. Chris’s father, Lt. Colonel West, is about to leave on his seventh army tour, so Chris knows what it’s like to be constantly worrying about a family member. Claire wishes she could be as strong and resilient as Tracy.
As captain of the track team and the JROTC drill team, Claire is clearly a leader among the students—but as she’ll soon find out, this is very different from being a leader in the midst of an adult crisis. Claire compares herself unfavorably to her sister’s strength, but her behavior over the course of the novel will show that she really does possess the qualities she thinks, at this point, that she lacks.
Themes
On the bright side Matt, who has lupus, has been doing relatively well recently and enjoying the beginning of high school. Chris says he should join the JROTC team to keep up the family tradition once Claire leaves. She’s sad to think that she and Chris will be separated next year: he’ll almost certainly go to West Point, but she doesn’t know where she’ll end up. Most seniors—including Claire’s ex-boyfriend, Tyler—can’t wait to finish high school. But she wishes she had more time before giving up all her friends.
Paradoxically, Claire wants high school to continue longer because she doesn’t feel grounded enough in her community—she worries that her friendships will dissolve once she no longer lives in the same place. By the end of the novel, however, she’ll realize that physical separation won’t dissolve the bonds with those who are important in her life.
Themes
Sylvia listens hopefully as Autumn opens up about her Mom’s beautiful dancing. Students are trying to exit the auditorium and grumbling at the congestion, but Sylvia wants to stand still and let her girlfriend talk. Autumn even begins telling Asha, who plays piano, about her own plans for her Julliard dance audition. Sylvia observes that if Autumn put a little more effort into making friends, she wouldn’t always feel so lonely, but she’s also a little jealous that Autumn is telling Asha things she’d never mentioned to Sylvia before.
Even though Sylvia is Autumn’s partner and the person she’s closest to, it’s often hard for Autumn to open up. In a way, their relationship parallels Sylvia’s dynamic with her twin Tomás: the love both siblings feel contrasts with the fact that they’re actively hiding things from each other.
Themes
When Autumn asks Sylvia if she’s heard from Brown yet, Sylvia says no, even though she’s actually clenching her acceptance letter in her pocket. She feels guilty that she already has the “ticket out of town” that Autumn wants, and even guiltier about the thought of leaving her sick Mamá behind. Around them, other people are chatting and flirting, united by the start of a new term. However, for some reason no one is moving out of the auditorium.
Unlike Claire and Autumn, Sylvia’s successful exit from Opportunity is all but assured. She’s held back not by worries about her own prospects but by her sense of responsibility for the family she’d be leaving behind.
Themes
In a text message, Matt tells Claire not to worry about him, and jokes that the speech was exactly as she said it would be.
Matt’s text demonstrates his reliance on and sense of camaraderie with his older sister.
Themes
